Chapter Twenty-Four Derek
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Derek
Unemployment has its perks. Even though I returned to New York to find my career intact.
It turns out Marty had gone to bat for me personally with Edward Mason, who ultimately decided that I was too valuable to lose.
Nevertheless, I resigned from MasonCorp on general principle.
The corporate rat race didn’t excite me anymore.
Honestly, nothing excited me anymore. My life, once neatly compartmentalized into boardroom victories and perfectly tailored suits, now felt like one long, aimless drift.
I tried running away from my problems, but the ghost of Jasmine Morgan followed me to every beach resort, casino, and nightclub.
She was everywhere. I saw her face every time I closed my eyes, her laugh echoing in my ears at the most inconvenient moments.
Sometimes I could swear I saw her out of the corner of my eye—just a glimpse of someone with her curls or that distinct sway in her walk—and my heart would leap before I realized it was just my imagination.
After six weeks of bouncing around the world, trying to outrun my pain with overpriced cocktails and meaningless conversations, I gave up and came home.
My apartment felt foreign, like stepping into someone else’s life.
The first thing I noticed was a package sitting on my entryway table, postmarked from Florida. My heart thudded in my chest.
I ripped it open like a man possessed, dumping the contents onto the table.
It was a stack of photocopied documents and a smaller padded envelope.
I didn’t have to open it to know what was inside.
The weight of the envelope, the familiar outlines—it was Jasmine’s wedding rings.
I couldn’t bring myself to look at them, not yet.
There was also a note from Cynthia, The Derry House’s owner, explaining that she found the jewelry along with some other things after we’d checked out and wanted to return them.
The fact that she’d sent them to my home address let me know she’d figured out my true identity.
That pang of guilt hit me like a hammer, as I remembered that that Jasmine and I had lied to her, too.
Cynthia had been nothing but kind, and we’d repaid her hospitality with deception. I sank deeper into my misery.
I poured myself a drink, something strong enough to dull the edges of my swirling emotions, and sank into my familiar cycle of anger, betrayal, and self-pity.
The only thing that changed this time was the location.
I was angry at myself for taking my eyes off the ball at work, letting my emotions dictate my decisions.
I was angry at Jasmine for playing me the way she had.
I was angry at myself for being fool enough to have fallen for it.
And I was angry—no, furious—that Miller’s Cove was going to end up gutted by MasonCorp, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.
But most of all, I was angry because I missed Jasmine. I missed her so much that I couldn’t think about anything else. I couldn’t escape the memories of her—the way her eyes sparkled when she was up to something, the way she made every moment, even the most mundane, feel like an adventure.
And I wasn’t the only one suffering. Tora hadn’t been the same since we left Miller’s Cove.
While I was rushing around the apartment, packing to leave, I’d accidentally stuffed one of Jasmine’s T-shirts into my bag.
Tora had found it, and ever since, he’d been sleeping with it every night, his nose buried in the fabric.
Sometimes, when I walked past him curled up with that shirt, I felt an almost overwhelming urge to take it from him so I could do the same.
That’s how bad things had gotten—I was jealous of my own dog.
My mind kept circling back to the last thing Jasmine said to me before I left. Her voice played on a loop in my head like a broken record. “This is it, Derek… You need to make the choice to believe me.”
I wanted to. God knows, I wanted to so badly it hurt. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. And for the life of me, I couldn’t understand why. I’d been spending every single day of the last six weeks trying to figure that out. Trying to figure out if it was her I didn’t trust—or if it was myself.
My phone buzzed on the coffee table. I stared at it, willing it to stop, but it didn’t. Finally, I picked it up.
It was CJ.
I almost let it go to voicemail. Almost. But then, something in me snapped. I needed to talk to someone, and CJ was the one person left in my life I could trust.
“What?” I barked into the phone.
“Wow, okay. Nice to talk to you, too, little brother.” His voice was calm, but I could hear the underlying concern.
“I haven’t been able to get more than a three word text message from you in almost two months.
If this Price/Waterford litigation wasn’t kicking my ass, I’d be over at your place kicking yours.
I know you’re not at MasonCorp anymore. What happened to you? ”
“What happened?” I let out a bitter laugh. “Everything. Jasmine played me. She went behind my back and submitted her proposal to MasonCorp. Now Miller’s Cove is screwed, David hates me, and Eleanor is heartbroken.”
“Slow down, Derek. What are you talking about?”
I told him everything he didn’t already know—from the fake marriage, to the berries, to my decision to back out of the deal, and finally, to the bombshell I’d learned about Jasmine’s betrayal.
CJ listened without interrupting, but when I finished, there was a long silence on the other end of the line.
“You still there?” I asked, my voice rough.
“Yeah, I’m here. Look, I’m not saying Jasmine didn’t make a mistake, but you’re not seeing the full picture.”
“What full picture? She lied to me, CJ. She lied to all of us.”
“You’re right. She did. But have you considered why? Have you even talked to her?”
I fell silent. I hadn’t. I’d been so consumed by my own anger and sense of betrayal that I hadn’t stopped to think about her side of things.
“Look, Derek,” CJ said, his tone softening. “You’ve always had a tendency to jump to conclusions. But before you write Jasmine off completely, maybe you should try to understand her reasons.”
“I don’t need to understand her reasons,” I snapped. “She’s just like her parents. It’s in her blood.”
“Whoa. Back up. What the hell are you talking about?”
“You know what I’m talking about.” I paced the living room. “Jasmine’s parents. They betrayed our parents. That’s why the company fell apart. That’s why Mom and Dad got divorced. Jasmine’s betrayal—it’s just history repeating itself. You can’t trust a Morgan.”
“Derek, stop.” CJ’s voice was sharp, cutting through my rant like a whip. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He let out a heavy sigh. “It means you’re wrong. The divorce had nothing to do with shady business dealings. It had nothing to do with Jasmine’s parents allegedly embezzling money. That was a rumor that our parents didn’t bother disputing.”
I froze, my heart pounding in my chest. “What are you talking about?”
“Sit down. This is going to take a minute.”
I sat, my legs feeling like jelly.
“The truth is, Dad had an affair,” CJ said bluntly. “With Celine Morgan. Jasmine’s mother.”
The world tilted. “What?” I whispered.
“It started when you and Jasmine were kids. Dad and Celine… they were close for years because of the business but even before that. But somewhere along the way, it turned into something else. Mom found out when Jasmine was seventeen. That’s when everything fell apart.”
My mind raced. “But… Mom always said…”
“Mom lied.” CJ’s voice was filled with regret. “She didn’t want you to know the truth. She wanted to protect her reputation and Dad’s, I guess.”
I sat there, stunned. Everything I thought I knew about my parents’ divorce, about Jasmine’s family, about the past… it was all a lie.
“So, you’re telling me,” I said slowly, “that Jasmine’s mother had an affair with our father?”
“Yes, but it’s not Jasmine’s fault, Derek. She was a kid. And as far as I know, she doesn’t even know about the affair.”
I leaned back on the couch, my head spinning. The anger I’d been holding on to for so long—the anger I’d directed at Jasmine—suddenly felt misplaced, hollow.
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“Because it wasn’t my story to tell,” CJ said. “And because I knew it would shatter you. But now you’re letting this anger and bitterness ruin your life. You need to let it go, Derek.”
I closed my eyes, taking deep, steadying breaths. CJ was right. I’d been holding on to a grudge that wasn’t even rooted in truth. And now I’d pushed away the person who… who might actually love me.
“What do I do?” I whispered.
“You start by talking to Jasmine,” CJ said. “And you listen. Really listen. Then you figure out what you want. But, Derek, don’t let the past—our parents’ mistakes—ruin your future.”
I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. “Thanks, CJ.”
“Anytime, little brother. Now go fix this.”
I hung up and sat there for a long moment, staring at the phone in my hand. Then, I stood, grabbed my keys, and headed for the door. It was time to find Jasmine and get some answers, but I wasn’t strong enough to do that yet, so I settled for the next best thing.